Random Access

Thursday – 09 July 2009
It’s supposed to be an NBN Thursday and my technical Friday… but this morning, it was pushing the envelope.  That’s not entirely true: GoogleTalk was a righteous pain in the keister this morning. For some reason, it decided to tell iChat and Adium to “Sod off!” It’s working now. So, all things considered, it’s still a good day.

Last night, while SaraRules went off to a Zumba class, I fired up City of Heroes and patrolled Paragon City with a pick-up team. The mission level was “a little high” on the first mission we ran, but the others went well. By the time it was all said and done, I had tacked a couple more levels onto Khnurn.

This morning, someone came over and commented about how large my monitor (the 42″ TV) is. I retorted that it is, in fact, large. He asked if it was for a project; I told him that it “kind of” was. He asked if it was for work or personal. At this point, I had a very quick internal monologue… that somehow managed to stay internal:

“Is this for a personal project?”

Come on.  Rub two – JUST TWO – brain cells together and get a synapse or two to fire.  If this was for a personal project, don’t you think that someone (ANYONE!) – from my manager all the way up to one of the execs – would have said something and/or repossessed it long before now? Idiotstick.

It didn’t help that this was one of my “not-as-favored-as-others” coworkers. *sigh* Monkeys.

Then I had a presentation to give in today’s staff meeting. That went well. At least, I think it went well. And really, that’s all I am concerned with right now.

Stray Toasters

• US federal security lapses found
• Hardware makers support Google OS
• Rupert Murdoch reporters in the UK illegally hacked thousands of peoples’ data
• Man, our President is cool
  

  

• Marvel’s Marko Djurdjevic Injects Soul into Comic Art
• Creative Commons licensed secret society for promoting girls’ literacy
• Hot and Bothering: Media Treatment of Sarah Palin

  
  “Debate” © Zina Saunders
  (For more art by Zina Saunders, click the image.)

• Sci-fi couture on the runway
• 3 Smart Things about Beer Marketing
• From the “Wait… WHAT did you just say?!” file: US worker dies in chocolate vat

I should eat something now, for I hunger.

Namaste.

Wednesday – 08 July 2009
The work week is half over. Selah.

Tonight is Corps Encore in Ogden; I don’t think that I’ll be attending this year.

Stray Toasters

• I have a couple of new building designs in mind for ‘Clix.
• SaraRules posted a couple of interesting links:
  • ViewMaster Wedding Invitations
  • Nothing will stop… THE WEDDING
• 
• By way of Eric: Quote of the Day: Walter Williams on Slavery
  Don’t forget to click on the “Click here” link at the end of the post – it’s worth it.
• Interracial Roommates Can Reduce Prejudice
• From comes: Why Just 2 Seconds of Transformers 2 Took 3 Months to Complete
• Casting Caution Aside as Violetta
• Senator Hatch suggests Justice Department look at BCS
• Monkeys recognize ‘bad grammar’, not to be confused with Nelly’s Country Grammar

• From NPR Music: Summer Road Trip: Songs for Speed and Spirit
• Guerilla swimming pools made from dumpsters
• Five Things Google’s Chrome OS Will Do for Your Netbook

Namaste.

Tuesday – 07 July 2009
Waking up this morning wasn’t exactly “the easiest” thing to do. I delayed it a bit, but still managed to be at work by 8:00. George Clinton and the Parliament Funkadelic provided the soundtrack to the morning commute.

I talked with Rana for a bit last night; she’s about seven weeks from giving us Niece or Nephew #2; Adam and Chelsea provided Nephew #1 last year. A little later, SaraRules and I went for a walk around the neighborhood. By the time it was all said and done, we had put in a little under 1.75 miles. It was a nice change of pace.

Stray Toasters

• July 7, 1752: Jacquard’s Loom Will Weave a Durable Web
• Clock will strike 04:05:06 07/08/09 tomorrow
• The Craziest Costume Changes in Comics
• What do you get when you mix comics and alcohol: Reno Superhero Crawl

  

• Classic Arcade Games Recreated Using Stop-Motion Animation of LEGO bricks
• Straight out of the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot” file: Shmucks of the Week: The threesome from Hell
• Some iPhone owners crave freedom to unlock from AT&T
• 
• By way of comes 11 Yearbook Photos that Musicians Wish We’d Never Seen
  Having seen this, I was compelled to click on the following links:
  • 11 Most Ridiculous DMX Moments
  • 11 Songs About Different Lengths of Time
• Pez Candy Inc sues Museum of Pez Memorabilia for copyright infringement
• U.S. Hospitals offer $155 billion for health reform: report

Namaste.

Monday – 06 July 2009
A new work week begins. Not too oddly, when the alarm went off this morning, I didn’t want to get out of bed. However, “Time and tide…”

Yesterday, SaraRules and I went out so that I could do a little shopping. While out, we stopped at a 7-11 and tried the “Liquid Artillery” Slurpee^®, their fourth movie tie-in flavor in the past two months. After that, we had coffee with Perry, followed by dinner with SaraRules’ family. After dinner, we watched Futurama: Bender’s Big Score. It was fun, but more like an extended episode of the show.

Once we got back home, I logged into City of Heroes while SaraRules did some quilting. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find a team to join, so I mostly wandered through Paragon City. After game/quilting time, we watched a movie left over from Bad Movie Night: Undead or Alive – a zombie western. It was fun… and funny. In fact, one of my favorite parts of the movie came in the first minute (maybe minute-and-a-half) of the film – during the intro text. It wasn’t a “great” movie, I’d still put it on the Cool World/Long Kiss Goodnight Scale, but it’s probably an 8 or 9 on that scale. (Man, I really need to figure out an image to use for the CW/LKG Scale…)

Stray Toasters

• sent a link to “Blasted Behavior,” which features the Star Wars characters… in therapy.

• This weekend’s Riverwalk Jazz featured an adaptation/interpretation of The Wizard of Oz. While listening to it, I realized that I have never read that book.
• I just received confirmation that my new jersey has shipped. I had been thinking of getting a new one for a while, but hadn’t committed to it. Steve McNair’s passing cemented the decision.
• Manchester’s steampunk difference engine adventure
• Ex-Pentagon chief McNamara dies
• 
• I’ve finally started reading American Psycho.
• Insane Sarah Palin, Late At Night On July 4, Threatens To Sue Entire Internet, Via Twitter
• Fellow students smell your exam fear
• This post has been brought to you by the letters “D” and “X” and the number “7.”

Sunday – 05 July 2009
Yesterday was another mostly lazy day in the valley. I slept in (a little) and then made my way into the living room, where I started reading American Psycho. I’m only 20 or so pages in, but I’m enjoying it so far. After SaraRules woke up, we had breakfast and headed to the gym:

• Leg Extensions: 3 sets/10 reps, 60 lbs
• Leg Raises: 3 sets/10 reps, 60 lbs
• Glutes (Kick-backs): 3 sets/10 reps, 70 lbs
• Flys: 3 sets/10 reps, 110 lbs
• Lower Back Extensions: 3 sets/15 reps, 160 lbs
• Lat Pull-downs: 3 sets/10 reps, 110 lbs
• Forward Lat Raises (w/ rotation to the side): 3 sets/10 reps, 15 lbs
• Curls (dumbbell): 3 sets/10 reps, 30 lbs
• Sit-ups (decline): 3 sets/15 reps

On the way home, we stopped at SaraRules’ parents’ so that she could get a recipe for coffee cake. (More on this below.) We had a lazy aftenoon. For dinner, we headed to Outback Steakhouse – I had been craving Aussie Cheese Fries and decided to fulfill that desire. They – and the rest of dinner (prime rib, salad, baked potato) – were just what the doctor ordered.

We headed up to Eastwood Elementary School to watch the Sugar House Park fireworks display. When we returned home, SaraRules put in Clash by Night, featuring a pre-The Big Valley Barbara Stanwyck as well as Marilyn Monroe.  I was distracted/put off by some of the storyline, but it was a decent movie.

I’m not sure what I want to do today. I have an option on playing ‘Clix with Chris and , but I’m not sure that I’m in the mood for it. (I know…!) I wouldn’t mind playing a little City, either. Or even Marvel Ultimate Alliance. And there are a couple of new ‘Clix building designs running through my head that I need to get onto paper, too.

The Best: The Man Who Sold the World
David Bowie vs. Nirvana vs. Lulu

David Bowie released this song in 1970. And it was good.
Lulu, possibly best known in the States for To Sir, With Love, did a cover in 1974.
Nirvana, a band I’ve never really been a fan of, covered the song in 1993.

I’ve liked the Bowie version since I first heard it, many moons ago.
I thought that the Nirvana cover was… decent, but didn’t really do anything “different” to put their own spin on it.
I heard the Lulu version yesterday, for the first time.

My rankings for the versions:

1. David Bowie
2. Nirvana (I know, this surprises me, too.)
3. Lulu

Stray Toasters

• Former NFL QB Steve McNair found shot to death
  • Baltimore Ravens respond to the news
  • Titans Coach, Jeff Fisher, comments
    
• Getting a summer job: Entrepreneurship for teens
• Fritz Lang directed Clash by Night. He also directed Metropolis, which I own and still need to watch the last forty or so minutes of.
• Personal details of new UK spy chief on Facebook
• It’s snake-eyes for Atlantic City for time being
• I am three weeks behind on Four-Color Coverage.
  This is both an observation… and a warning.
• Disney World monorail crash kills driver
• Michael Jackson book a headache for Jackie O
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot” file: Insane Sarah Palin, Late at Night on July 4, Threatens to Sue Entire Internet

Namaste.

04 July 2009
Today is Independence Day in the U.S. Let’s all take a moment to thank The Fresh Prince and The Fly for repelling the alien invasion that threatened to destroy all human life on Earth.

Yesterday was a very lax day for SaraRules and me. That lasted until mid-afternoon, when we did another round of “Closet Cleanout.” We have five or six bags of significant size full of clothes that are ready to go to The Salvation Army.

Before coffee, we visited Kate, Perry and the kids. They were having a cookout with some of their neighbors, which may have also included a few pyrotechnics. From there, it was on to Clitorati. There were nine or ten of us there.

Stray Toasters

• Nine reasons to celebrate America
• Schoolhouse Rock! Fireworks

• Part of last night’s coffee conversation centered around the question: “Are the crunchy bits inside a fig seeds or wasps?” pointed out that they are, in fact, wasp larva. This prompted a little more investigation. How Stuff Works (not too surprisingly) has an article called Are Figs Really Full of Baby Wasps?, which serves up a more complete truth on the matter.
• Alaska Governor Palin to resign
• 
• Compuserve Shuts Down
• Venice rolls out citywide wi-fi
• Blade Runner Tokyo (in Large-Format Photography)
• Spunky Kitty Style

Have a safe and enjoyable holiday!

Namaste.

Friday – 03 July 2009
Last night, we went out to dinner with SaraRules’ family, to celebrate her mother’s birthday. Post-dinner, we headed to her parents’ house for a birthday cake pie – a rich, multi-layered chocolate affair that SaraRules made from scratch, including a crust made from crushed nuts. It was very good and VERY rich.

Back at home, we vegged. After watching a bit of TV… and having the TV watch me, as I nodded off on the couch… I finished up my new ‘Clix building.

Sleep was intermittent; it felt like I woke up eleventy billion times during the night.

Stray Toasters

• One of the designers from WorldWorks Games is a Transformers fan. He still is, even after seeing the new movie; but he wrote a review that made me smile.
• NAACP comic from early 1960s
• WHO warns swine flu ‘unstoppable’
• Opus Dei: Separating fact from fiction
• 
• Tower of Power and Spyro Gyra will be here next weekend for the Salt Lake City International Jazz Festival
• Statue of Liberty photoshopping contest
• How to Perform a Trebuchet with a Butterfly Knife
• Ript: The dude equivalent of a padded bra

Right on to the…
…well, it’s a day off, so I don’t anticipate a lot of friction.

Namaste.

Thursday – 02 July 2009
Today has been… a day. It hasn’t really been “hellish,” so to speak, but there has been a lot going on. However, there is a plus side to the day: IT is having “Team Jersey/T-shirt Day” and we’re having ice cream (with cookies and toppings and waffle bowls).

Last night, I got the roof on the lobby of the new ‘Clix building and the water feature in front of the building. It required buying a new set, Seaworks: Atlantis, but I realized that I can now make the “Great Arena” Map in 3D using parts from the Atlantis kit.

Stray Toasters

• SaraRules and I went for a walk yesterday evening. While out, we stopped at Red Mango; I had a yen for a Green Tea Yogurt. I discovered something… horrible: Red Mango no longer makes/carries the Green Tea Yogurt.
• Neverland could rival Graceland as tour attraction
• , with a generous donation from the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot” file, sent a link to this: Universal Lands Rights to Asteroids Movie
• LEGO’s Temple of Adorable Doom
• 
• An exciting stats website? Believe it
• It’s raining again.
• Speaking of which, SaraRules noted that Salt Lake City had 17 days of rain in June.
• SurvivalStraps Survival Bracelet

Namaste.

Wednesday – 01 July 2009
A new month begins… with a brief rain shower.

Yesterday, SaraRules, Marci, Wes and I hit the gym at lunchtime for a short workout:

• Sit-ups: 3 sets – 20/10/10
• Bench Press: 3 sets/10 reps, 205 lbs
• Incline Chest Press: 3 sets/10 reps, 80 lbs
• Reverse Flys: 3 sets/110 lbs
• Curls (dumbbell): 3 sets/10 reps, 30 lbs

Post-workout weight: 185.4 lbs

Last night, SaraRules and I watched Vantage Point, by way of Netflix’ “Instant Queue” on the 360. Streaming movies on a game console… over the Interwebs.  Who knew?! The movie depicts the attempted assassination of an American President from eight points of view. It was an interesting concept and it was pulled off fairly well. We realized, after the movie was done, that this was the second consecutive movie that we’ve seen with Forest Whitaker in it wherein his character’s life intertwines with other characters’ lives in an unusual synchronicity, the first being The Air I Breathe.

After the movie, I did a little more work on my ‘Clix building. All of the walls are up, now I just need to put the main roof and the lobby roof on and add a few tiles of water and it will be complete.

This morning, I really didn’t want to get out of bed when the alarm went off. But, I did. And took care of the morning hygiene rituals. And, as I was finishing with the work-prep, I turned on the TV… and Breakin’ was on. And, yes, I did stop and watch a bit of it.

Stray Toasters

• sent me a link to Star Trek Look-Alikes Open Restaurant
• Greek mental care failures exposed
• From NPR Music:
  • A Mix for America
  • What the Heck Is That? Odd Instruments in Jazz
  • Jay Smooth: On Hip-Hop, Blogs and Race
• By way of Rachel:

  
  (click image for larger version)

• There’s a good article on ToyChop called “Good Fences,” about house rules for barriers in HeroClix.
• By way of and the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot” file: “I was not prepared to see a… woodland creature… in the interview room.”
• 

• Tables turned on Russian gamblers
• dot.life: Listening to Mr. iPhone
• Also from Nyx… and the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot” file: GOP Rep. to Environmentalists: Jesus Already Saved the Planet

Namaste.

Tuesday – 30 June 2009
It’s the last day of June. I’m sure that this is important – or at least “notable” – for many reasons, but prime among them is the fact that the new IKEA bible catalog will be out soon.

Last night, we had a tasty dinner with SaraRules’ family. After dinner, and some errand-running, we headed home for some downtime. I started putting together walls for my new ‘Clix building. Of the eight main walls, I have five complete; the last three should go much faster. Then I can start in on the “lobby” section, which should go quite quickly. I’m looking forward to getting it completed.

This morning, I was at work at 0700. One of our teams has a couple of days’ worth of meetings and we had to get some networking ready for it. So, loonybin88 and I were in here – neither bright-eyed nor bushy-tailed – to get it taken care of.  Naturally, while we were wrapping up the setup, there was a pushy monkey who wanted to have something done his way; little did he know that he was mere moments away from having the closest live power cord plugged into a place neither God, Mother Nature nor Darwin ever intended for it to go. *sigh* Monkeys, go figure.

Stray Tourists Toasters

• June 30, 1953: Corvette Adds Some Fiber, Flair to American Road
• I have frozen mocha goodness!  And a bagel!
• L.A.’s vegan restaurants are full of egg
• Tourist Remover photoshops stray tourists out of your snaps
• Great Geek Debates: Kirk vs. Picard
• Did I mention “monkeys?”
• Jackson’s Death Puts Lucrative Beatles Copyrights In Play
  The man may have been… “odd,” to say the least, but he was a great entertainer. I had forgotten that he had a major share of the rights to many/most of the Beatles’ music catalog. I was also unaware of this performance of Come Together until yesterday:

• U.S. ‘concerned’ over cyber threat
• Force of Nature: Artist Puts Petal to the Metal for Electrifying Images
• Lord of the Rings considered as a D&D game (webcomic)
• Super Small, Super Powerful Quantum Processor Can Solve Multiple Problems at Once
  (Repeat after me: “SkyNet is now online…”)

Right on to the friction of the day…

Namaste.

Monday – 29 June 2009
We opted not to go back to the Utah Arts Festival yesterday and enjoyed a lazy day at home.  It was rather nice. When SaraRules asked me what I wanted for dinner, I had an idea: Grilling some steak and/or chicken. The more I thought about it, the better it sounded. And that’s what I did: Steak, chicken, corn on the cob, zucchini, mushrooms and red peppers. They turned out well.

Logan came over and joined us for dinner; we watched Aliens while we ate. After that, the three of us played Trivial Pursuit. (I really need to get some updated cards for the game…) When we played, we kept our wedges in our respective corners and used HeroClix figures as our playing pieces:

• SaraRules used Wonder Woman,
• Logan used The Riddler and
• I used the custom GL John Stewart figure that Perry made for me a while back.

The “Literature” category of the Genus Edition often kicks my trash; last night, the universe threw me a bone, almost literally, when I was going for the brown wedge:

What is the name of Superman’s dog?

I couldn’t believe it when Logan asked the question; I thought he was kidding. Then he reread the question. It gave me a good laugh when I answered: “Krypto.” I was so amused by the question that I switched my game piece to my Krypto ‘Clix, because I could… and because it amused me to do so.

After the game, Logan and I played through a board of HALO3. After seeing the amount of crap that we had to wade through, I was happy to have the help.

After Logan left, I started working on a new building for HeroClix City, based on a design that I came up with on Friday. I knew that I was going to have to adapt the building faces to fit the design, but I thought that three of them would be the same. Nope. Two of them are, the third one was much easier to work with. I’m also going to have to work out the details of five other faces. We’ll see how it shapes up.

So far, today’s been a good – and relatively quiet – day. There haven’t been any major fires to put out. There haven’t been any monkeys to beat down. Not a bad way to kick off a Monday and a holiday week.

Stray Toasters

• Yesterday was the first time I’ve fired up my grill in two years, I think. The igniter on the grill wasn’t working, so I had to use a camp stove lighter to kick things off. Great theory and nominally good application… aside from the fact that I had turned up the gas “a bit” too high and wound up creating a small fireball that singed the hair off the back of two of my fingers.
• In a related note: I went online to look for the manual for the grill – I need to know how to repair or replace the igniter. Sears has 119 of them posted. I looked at all of them, but only found two (2) that look close to my grill. I’ll have to compare and contrast them when I get home.
• 13 year old kid reviews 30 year old Walkman
• showed us the trailer for the upcoming Star Wars: The Old Republic MMORPG.
• Google Mistook Jackson Searches for Net Attack

That’s good for now.

Namaste.

Thursday: Coda
After work, I came home. That’s usually the way that things go. It’s not a bad tradition, all things being equal.

I had a bite to eat – SaraRules made an awesome homemade Macaroni and Cheese dish – and then fired up the 360. Before getting into Covenant beatdown mode, I took a look at some things on the 360’s dashboard. Among them was Netflix Instant Queue, which allows me to watch movies on the 360… on demand. Pretty nice option, if I do say so. I added a few movies to my queue.

Then, it fired up HALO3. Last night, I saved the game (I remembered this time!!!) on the way to Voi. There were a couple of Wraiths and Choppers at the bridge as a “Welcome Wagon.” Yay, lucky me. After getting my – and the Marines with me – butt blown off and handed to me, repeatedly, I beat the defenders and got ready to Ease on Down the Road. I didn’t get far at all before I found the flying monkeys Brutes with jet packs had set up a roadblock. No problem. I backed down the road a bit and hopped into one of the Wraiths. A few well-place plasma bursts later, the Brutes (and the roadblock) were no more. I, and the lone Marine who stuck by me, headed down the hill… only to find more Marines – and more jump pack-wearing Brutes – in a firefight. Yay. That’s where I stopped. For now.

SaraRules and I headed to the gym for a workout:

• Bench Press: 3 sets/10 reps, 205 lbs
• Incline Press (Icarian): 3 sets/10 reps, 140 lbs
• Flys: 3 sets/10 reps, 110 lbs
• Lower Back Extensions: 3 sets/15 reps, 160 lbs
• Curls (barbell): 3 sets/10 reps, 50 lbs
• Side Bends: 3 sets/10 reps, 30 lbs
• Push-ups: 3 sets/10 reps

Post-workout weight: 184.7 lbs

Stray Toasters

• From NPR’s Talk of the Nation: Why Is It OK to Say “That’s So Gay”
• 20 More Ways You Know You’re Married to a GeekDad
• Michael Jackson has died, apparently from cardiac failure. There are many things that could be said of the man, but I’ll just say that he was an amazing entertainer. May he find the peace in the next world that eluded him in this one.
• Lovecraft Meets Atlas Obscura
• Microsoft Discloses Windows 7 Pricing
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot” file: Stoned wallabies make crop circles

And now, it’s time for Burn Notice.

Namaste.

Thursday – 25 June 2009
This morning started at 0630… and restarted at 0800. How/why? Because, after showering and having a bite to eat, I decided that I wasn’t quite ready to kick off the day. Instead, I crawled back into bed and caught a little more shut-eye. And it was nice.

Last night, SaraRules and I went to Liberty Park and walked the inner loop. It was nice… except for the clouds of gnats hovering around the south end of the park. Clouds of them. Literally. Bah! After we got back home, I fired up the 360 and played more HALO3. I also discovered something annoying: Apparently, I neglected to use the “Save and Quit” option on Tuesday and wound up having to repeat the last mission that I completed Tuesday night. *grblsnrkx* On the “plus” side, I remembered where I needed to go to exit that mission, rather than wandering aimlessly through the complex, so my retreat “strategic advance to the rear” was expedicious. I also added another weapon to my “favorites” list: the Plasma Cannon, the Covenant’s answer to the Machine Gun Turret.

Stray Toasters

• posted a link to an excellent article: What to do if your child has superpowers. This will tie in nicely with “The Kal-El Clause” that SaraRules and I have devised.
• What’s your gamertag?  (This makes sense if you’re a Xbox Live subscriber…)
• Strip-search of U.S. girl illegal
• How to Have a Persuasive Handshake
• The website for the upcoming The Last Airbender movie is now live.
• Stephen King has a novella, Morality, that was printed in the July 2009 issue of Esquire. The synopsis of the story:
  

  Chad, an aspiring writer who is teaching school until he lands a publishing contract, and his wife, Nora, who is working as a home nurse for a retired minister are, like most people these days, struggling financially.  Nora is approached by her employer with a proposition that could make their dream of a home in Vermont a reality.  But will it be worth the moral consequences?

  It was a good story, but far from a happy story. It’s not often that one feels “dirty” – and possibly even “damaged” – after reading something, but this story puts you in that position.

• Oscars expand Best Film category
• ‘Charlie’s Angel’ Farrah Fawcett dies at 62
• Mania.com has an interview with former JLA writer Dwayne McDuffie
• Bettye LaVette was on The Late Late Show last night. She performed one of my favorite Sam Cooke songs, A Change Is Gonna Come; I will have to look for some of her CDs.
• Burton’s WONDERLAND Revealed
• 20 Best (and 20 Worst) Pets in Science Fiction
• Watchmen Director’s Cut Gets Theatrical Release

Namaste.

Wednesday – 24 June 2009
Middle of the week and all’s well.
It’s also “Sushi and Comics Wednesday,” which is always a good thing.

Last night, SaraRules and I headed over to Gardner Village for an evening stroll. For as much of a madhouse as that place is on Saturdays, it was practically deserted last night. We only saw a handful of people the entire time we were there. One of the places we checked out was “Country Furniture and Gifts,” in the building that has the waterwheel. It was like entering “The House That Never Ends” in that it had stairwells hither and yon and new rooms just seemed to fold into and out of 3D space; Escher would have been proud. (I deduced that the pioneers must have figured out how to create a tesseract using the energy harnessed from the waterwheel – it’s the only logical conclusion of how “that much” house wound up in “that little” space.)

Once we got back home, I fired up the 360 and played HALO3, a pleasure I have recently rediscovered. I have been stuck on a board for the past few weeks – which has been a bit discouraging – so I took a sabbatical from playing it. Last night, I got past that scenario and discovered my new favorite weapons: The Machine Gun Turret and the Battle Rifle. Nothing says “Love” like tearing a 50-caliber gun off its tripod and walking down a hallway with it, lighting up any and all Covenant forces like a Christmas tree. (Yes, a very bloody Christmas tree, but that’s not the point here.) And the Battle Rifle..? It lets me take head-shots – like my former HALO and HALO2 favorite weapon: The Sniper Rifle – and it has a burst fire mode, too.

Stray Toasters

• I woke up with the Good & Plenty jingle – from the 1950s(!) – in my head for some reason:

• Michelle Obama knows what works, style experts agree
• Rethinking Gender Bias in Theater
• Bozeman, Montana changes its mind about job applicants’ social networking passwords
• 
• Gone hiking? Missing governor sparks political fight and “Missing” governor was on private Argentina trip
• Giant code wheel for sale, proceeds to EFF
• Britain’s secret plan for surviving a nuclear war

Feelings, sensations that you thought was dead (yup)
No squealing, remember that it’s all in your head

Namaste.

Tuesday – 23 June 2009
This morning’s title comes from The Omega Man, the second movie of our Bad Movie Night double-feature, which I’ll get back to momentarily.

Chris and Mary came over for dinner and Bad Movie Night. We watched Balls of Fury, which neither SaraRules nor I had seen and the aforementioned The Omega Man. Balls of Fury is a movie follows former ping pong child prodigy, Randy Daytona, as he seeks entry into an exclusive tournament being held by Feng, the man who had Randy’s father killed years before. After the movie, Chris told us something about the film that was revealed in the special features: The movie was made as a kung-fu movie… without any kung-fu. After thinking about it for a few moments, we realized that was exactly what we’d seen.

The Omega Man is the 1971 adaptation of I Am Legend, by Richard Matheson. I have now seen all three adaptaions: The Last Man on Earth, starring Vincent Price; The Omega Man, starring Charlton Heston; and I Am Legend, starring Will Smith. This was a good version and a decent adaptation of the original story. The basic premise was the same: An epidemic sweeps the world, killing off most of the population and transforming the remainder into a new offshoot species, leaving Colonel Robert Neville alone and outside. I realized something about this and the other I Am Legend-based movies: Each movie, while telling a variation of the same story, was a reflection of its time. In this case, there were many comments and themes that related to “The Man” draggin down civilization through war (being in the midst of the Vietnam War and Cold War eras) and technology. All-in-all, though dated, it was an enjoyable film.

Stray Toasters

• A collision between two Washington, D.C. Metro trains killed seven people yesterday (1, 2, 3)
• Ed McMahon dies at 86
• Mexican Cartels Lure American Teens as Killers
• How to Start Living in a Tiny House
• 
• While FAIL stickers are amusing, I am still more partial to I Park Like an Idiot stickers.
• Lancaster, PA keeps a close eye on itself
• The crap they built where the beautiful train stations were
• Production stills from Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot” file: TV preacher proves that only the Christian God is real
  It’s WTF not because of what he believes, rather because of the “logic” he uses to support his arguments.
• Audio slideshow: Splendour of Saturn

Right on to the friction of the day…

Namaste.